Tracking the Tigers with MLB.com beat writer Jason Beck.

Monday: Tigers at Indians

Before Progressive Field turns into a winter wonderland this November, they still have three nights of baseball left against the Tigers. It was a rainy wonderland for most of the day with showers coming up from the south, but the rain has become more scattered. Looks like they’re going to get this game in.

Once they do, it’ll be the 139th game of the season for Johnny Damon. One more after that, and he’ll become just the fifth player in Major League history to play at least 140 games in 15 consecutive seasons.

Damon is one of three left-handed hitters in this lineup. Right-handed batters have actually fared better than left-handed hitters, .328 average compared with .194, against Indians right-hander Carlos Carrasco.

On the other side, we’ll see if the Indians can score a run off of Armando Galarraga this year.

TIGERS

Jackson, CF

Damon, DH

Raburn, LF

Cabrera, 1B

Peralta, SS

Inge, 3B

Avila, C

Wells, RF

Rhymes, 2B

P: Armando Galarraga

INDIANS

Michael Brantley, CF

Asdrubal Cabrera, SS

Shin-Soo Choo, RF

Travis Hafner, DH

Jayson Nix, 2B

Trevor Crowe, LF

Matt LaPorta, 1B

Luis Valbuena, 2B

Luke Carlin, C

P: Carlos Carrasco

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6 Comments

It has been really nice to see the pitching performances and the hitting these last couple of weeks. The Twins were without their big boppers but it was still very important to beat them IMO.
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This is a pivotal year for Dombrowski. With so much money coming off the table and maybe more—he has to be bold and at the same time creative. Every Tiger fan in their right mind in March this year knew we were going nowhere with Everett and Laird at the bottom of our lineup. It is a bit scary to think that DD had convinced himself they could carry these two, especially Everett, who has very likely played his last game of MLB baseball, and was unwanted by every other big league ball club.
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They have to be logical and tough with decisons to be made on guys like Inge, Guillen and Bonderman. Magglio is worth keeping for his bat. The power numbers will fade but he is nice complement to MCab. Both professionally nad personally. I’d keep him “IF” he is absolutely willing to be a DH.
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I’d keep Peralta. He can slip over to 3rd if they don’t come up with a game-changing type 3rd sacker or he can drop a few pounds and increase his range to provide us a solid bat/glove/arm at short.
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I think they will go with Rhymes and Sizemore next year. I am not keen on platooning but there just may not be a clear-cut winner for the job. I prefer Rhymes in the field as he is capable of making the great play as well as being a stalwart at completing the DP. Sizemore will hit more than Will, and with power. I don’t see Rhymes hitting much more than .265 – –.270, maybe. And if he plays they have to be sensible enough to utilize his speed and let hims steal a few bases. Without that he negates alot of the offensive rationale for keeping him.
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No way do I want to go into a new season (with all that money available) with a middle infield comprised of rookies. So if they stay with a rook at 2nd there is no room for Danny Worth in my opinion.
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As beloved as Brandon Inge is in Detroit, I think he has to go. His defense is spectacular at times that it is hard to say that but we simply need RBIs and contact from our 3rd baseman. He could make a pretty decent utility guy but we have Raburn and Kelly. And honestly, Inge should be playing everyday for someone.
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Laird is done here. Avila has the job hands down. They need a backup who can mash LHP but willing to accept 150 ABs.
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I think we will do fine in the OF. Boesch obviously has to rediscover himself. Shame on management for not giving him some time away from the pressures he had. Funny how the week off at the All Star breask had a significant impact on his hitting. Perhaps similarly, if they had given him a 2 week stint at Toledo it may have accomplished the reverse outcome.
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Wells appears to be ready. Raburn needs a full time job. I still say they would be smart to send him to winter ball with the direction to play 3rd base. If not, trade him. A national League team would be ideal for him and could land us a solid reliver and backup catcher.
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GMan and Bondo – Sorry.
Bonine and Thomas – gotta go and no, I’m not sorry.
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However, September aside, the most significant change would be to dump Leyland. Unfortunately that is not going to happen.

Like I said before—GMan is too much of a perpetual project.
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It is absolutely boring watching him pitch and he is a home-run hurler. Combine that with the bases on balls and you have a bad combination.
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Wonder if we will hear the whinging about support in the paper tomorrow!!
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Bonine in—another hugely dispensible arm in our bullpen.
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You will never ever get more than you can now for Galarraga. Well you could have 2 months ago.

Rhymes has been a bit of a lightning rod tonight. The missed hit & run really hurt but what in the world is JL doing not bunting in that situation anyway? That’s how you make things happen-drop one down and see if the opposition starts throwing it around—by god, we sure do.
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Perfect guy to bunt with in a perfect situation. A hit & run there is totally unecessary. Maybe with a guy who CAN’T bunt but now with Will.
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I hope Cab isn’t hurt too bad—-maybe he becomes a DH for a while now?

That was a good discussion we had started this afternoon. Glad to see more people weighing in with their opinions.
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We go on the road and quit hitting with RISP. That’s pretty much the storyline of the entire season. One of the reasons the offseason will be difficult to manage is this Jekyll/Hyde thing we’ve got going.
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Who was Galarraga yelling at this time after the Hafner homer?
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Why on earth didn’t JL have Rhymes bunt in that spot? The man has a hang up on the hit and run. It doesn’t matter if everyone in the park (all 275 of them) knew Will would be bunting. It’s the play you put on. I wasn’t behind PHing Kelly for Raburn either. Doesn’t matter that Don got a hit. You could PH Bonderman and have Jeremy hit a grand slam but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a dumb move.
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What’s with this John Adams character anyway? I was at a 3-game series in Cleveland, September of 2007, and I swear that drum was being miked through the PA system. How do they listen to that everynight? I always want to do a John Belushi “Animal House” thing, grab the drum, smash it to pieces, then quietly say “sorry man.”
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–Rich

I’ve seen those ankle injuries a lot in basketball. Sometimes the guy gets back in the game, and sometimes he’s out for a long time. I see no reason to rush Miggy back in there. Nothing to be gained.
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–Rich

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